Readers respond to question about race relations: Letters

The events in Ferguson, Mo., are disturbing in many ways, including the obviously unjustified killing of a black teenager, the gross overreaction of the Ferguson Police Department, the over-the-top police reaction to legitimate protests, and the criminal behavior of a small group of thugs claiming to be protesters.

To see a different view of race relations, we need look no farther than the Little League World Series, less than 800 miles away in Williamsport, Pa. There, several hundred boys and two girls of many different races and nine different countries live together, play together and have fun together without even a hint of racial animus. This is true not only of the kids but their parents and thousands of supporters evidenced by the huge crowds that appear to be racially integrated.

Look at the team from Philadelphia. This team is composed of white kids, black kids and mixed-race kids who obviously enjoy, support and care about each other. The conduct of these kids, their coaches, parents and supporters sets an example of the way it should be but unfortunately not the way it is.

— Tom Johnson, Rancho Cucamonga

We’ve gotten more divided

We are more divided now than when I came to California 50 years ago from a state with few racial problems. At that time, California was not a hotbed of race problems.

Since then, there’s been a big change in attitudes toward race, and I believe it is a contrived difference manufactured by the media, blacks educated toward mostly non-existent differences, communist influence and the left wing, all disliking free markets and the founding document of the United States.

No one with any authority has the political power to stop the community activism that seems to grasp the “something for nothing” crowd, and racism advocates have acquired the power for violent action without much opposition. Too many people in our community have been educated to look in the mirror and see race instead of human.

— Bob Sharp, Arleta

Some are left behind

I see irony in the headlines regarding Central American teens crowding the U.S. border to seek the American dream and the protests over a police shooting in a city where — as one media outlet put it — economic inequality disproportionately affects black communities.

In the former, young people are driven by the hope of joining family members who trekked before them and established a toe-hold in this land of opportunity

In the latter, a feeling of hopelessness in ever digging out of poverty is fueling the rage.

Advertisement

Who is making the decisions about which group gets the chance to reap economic rewards? To be so left behind in a sea of struggle and despair just shores up perceptions of hate and discrimination. Fairness demands that people who strived for generations for their share of the pie should not be so callously ignored or shouldered aside.

— Catheryn Franklin, Long Beach

Address the real issues

This country is divided over race because the media, the Democratic Party, and race hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Attorney General Eric Holder have a vested interest in keeping it that way. They require gullible followers in order to feel good about themselves, get re-elected, or make a comfortable living.

Cries of racism are consistently overblown. Blacks commit seven times more crimes than whites yet account for less than one-fourth of the few annual deaths caused by police. Until all sides can focus on solving the real problems of government dependency, fatherless households and moral anarchy, this downward spiral will continue. It’s a shame because so many people could live better and more rewarding lives.

— Michael Logan, Pasadena

Learn what ‘stop’ means

When I grew up, “Stop or I’ll shoot” meant stand still or you will be shot. Now, not so much.

Recently, many cases of a criminal trying to wrestle the gun from a police officer with the assumed intention of killing that police officer, and that police officer winning the battle and killing the criminal, have resulted not in praise for the police officer but litigation and praise for the criminal. Why don’t people just learn to stop?

Why is there a large divide between the races, and is there a way to bridge it? Well, the bridge was laid decades ago during the equal rights movement. The question should not be if there is a bridge between the races but who has chosen to cross that bridge.

— Ray Moors, Chino

Opportunity is equal

I’m tired of the phrase “racial discrimination.” Equal opportunity is there. You have to earn it. Work for it. Black or white, abide by the law. Go to school. Get an education. The world does not owe you a living. Face the penalties if you break the law. No handouts.

Law-abiding citizens work hard for what they have. There are wealthy black people and wealthy white people. They didn’t get there sitting around complaining. They got there by hard work.